Teachers' Authentic Relationships With Girls of Color: Confronting Racial Fetishization in the Classroom

• In Event: Examining Girlhood Across Contexts

Abstract

Girls of Color are overrepresented in disciplinary actions in schools, which can have negative impacts on their trajectories. Analyzing data collected from teachers as part of a larger study of Girls of Color, this paper: a) reports on the finding that white teachers often feign kinship with Girls of Color, b) theorizes reasons behind this phenomenon known as racial fetishism, and c) explores possible implications from this work for developing antiracist white teachers. The definition of racial fetishism used here fuses whiteness theories and literature on racial fetishism, applied to the school environment. By understanding the rhetorical moves of fetishization, we are better prepared to build frameworks that discourage the performativity of whiteness and superiority toward a more humanizing approach.

Authors

• Elizabeth Jackson, The University of Kansas

• Courtney Lane Wilt, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

• Subini Ancy Annamma, Stanford University